Music and people hold my life together. I describe experiences, discoveries and insights, often connected with music and with teaching and playing piano. The blog is a way to stay in touch with friends, and may also be food for thought for anyone else, especially people connected with music and the piano/
Musik und Menschen halten mein Leben zusammen. Ich beschreibe Erfahrungen, Entdeckungen und Einsichten, oft in Zusammenhang mit dem Klavierspiel und dem Klavierunterricht.

Monday, May 25, 2020

This month listed the 9th Listening Session out
of twelve on the journey through the first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier
1 – or whatever is left of the listening sessions, after Covid-19 confined us
to our homes. I’ve gotten quite comfortable producing videos to explore the
pieces each month, I even enjoy it, but of course, it’s not the same as sharing
with a live audience.

At three quarters of the way, the finish line comes into
view, and the final concert, a performance of the entire WTC 1 on September 11.
To keep in touch with the pieces, I play two Preludes and Fugues every day.
It’s not about performance perfect, just keeping them alive.

The days of the week are counted in terms of Preludes and
Fugues. Twelve days to complete the cycle. Today is “A” - Day. The Preludes and
Fugues in A-major and A-minor are on the program of the session on June 19.
Will we be able to meet in person by then? How much longer has become a searing
question during the Pandemic.

The situation reminds me of the first time I prepared to
present all of Book I, on my first job in the US at a community music school in
New Hampshire. I had to teach a lot more students than I was comfortable with
in order to get my Green Card application approved. My lawyer estimated the process
would take 2 ½ years. I had a friend who’d been waiting for eight.

There was no way out but through, one day at a time. No one
knows how much longer this will last, and no one knows what the day will bring.
Each day brings us a little closer to the goal, to whatever lies beyond, and to
the end of our days. It’s always like that, really, but we don’t tend to think
about it that much.

To keep track of the days while I waited for my Green Card, I put a bead on a string at the end of each day. Different shapes and colors had different meanings. All I remember of them now is that the dark blue beads were for the really dark days. As you can see, there aren't that many. Most days have something bright in them, if you care to look for it.

I put the chain of "daily beads" around a wall hanging I made later to commemorate the 14 months
I spent preparing for the performance of WTC 1 and waiting for my Green Card.
(For the entire story of the Green Card and the Well-Tempered Clavier, check out my memoir: More than the World in Black and White)

I practiced Bach's music every day and was often amazed how the
past and the future disappeared, once I got absorbed in the music and in the
moment. It’s an experience I’ve preserved from those times, and I hope the
music will do the same for you, as you explore the Preludes and Fugues of this
month’s session:

Prelude No
17 in A-flat major BWV 862
-

a joyful,
dance-like piece that's sure to give you a boost of energy whenever you need
it.

Prelude No
18 in G-sharp minor BWV 863
is a wistful dance under a cloudy sky with some interesting rhythmic
ambiguities. You'll get to hear it in two different tunings: Mean-tone, played
on my keyboard, and well-tempered, on the piano.

Fugue No
18 in G-sharp minor BWV 863
is based on a subject that joins together two contrasting ideas. It's unique
among Bach's fugue subjects and provides an adventurous musical journey. One of
my favorites! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI1Vr7Ydm_w duration of video 15"58

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

The Bach Journey continues,
while, hopefully, you're all safe and well at home. After much consideration of
different options I've decided against an attempt to live-stream. I think that
recording the session and illustrating playing and comments with the marked
score and other illustrations makes for a more lively and interesting
presentation than watching someone play and talk during a live-stream with
mediocre sound quality at best. Everybody will be watching the video at
different times, but as we watch, we'll all be together in spirit. The video
actually comes closer to what we do when we meet at Ethical to explore the
pieces.

I have slightly adapted the
format to the different medium. There’s a separate recording for each piece,
and each recording is between 10 and 15 minutes playing time.

Here are the links to the
exploration of the Preludes and Fugues No 15 and 16 from J.S. Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier 1.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Home-made in the Home-Studio

It’s Wednesday, March 11, when I get on my bike to
post announcements for next week’s Listening Session on the Journey through Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier 1, though I already sense that it won’t happen. At least
I’ll spread the energy and we’ll see where it takes us.

Responses to this
project have been more enthusiastic than I dared to hope. Our audience keeps
growing, and so far, people have donated almost $ 1200 for this fundraiser. As
long as I’m healthy and functioning, I will not let this go.

I make a few inquiries regarding live-streaming, from
home or from our usual venue at the Ethical Culture Society. Responses are not
encouraging. I would need a video camera and an assistant, because I can’t run
the show and the recording at the same time.Most important, however, is a reliable and high quality internet
connection. There’s no way to guarantee that in either place.

On Friday, March 13, the following message goes out
to the mailing list:

Dear Fellow Travellers on the Bach-Journey

As efforts are made everywhere to contain the spread of COVID –
19, cancellations of events are the trend of the day. So, here’s the good news
for you: this is not a cancellation; it’s only a change of form.

We will NOT gather in person at the Ethical Culture Society next
Friday, March 20, 7:00-8:00 pm.Instead, I’m going to record the session and put it on you tube.

Technology and life events cooperating, I will do my best to
have this done by the date of the session and share the links with you as the
recordings go live.

I’ve done this plenty of times before. All it takes is a
couple of easy steps:

Step 5: Import images to “Movie Maker” – one at a time - and
synchronize them with the sound file.

Step 6: Make a control run of the finished product.

Step 7: Export the file, using “quick time.” This means
effectively to save the file, so that you can put it on youtube. “Quick time”
does not live up to the promise of its name. Saving a 10-minute piece takes approximately
3 hours. It’s best to do it when you’re not using the computer for something
else, e.g. while practicing, teaching – which is currently happening through
facetime on my I-Phone – or over night, while you’re sleeping.

Step 8: Post the finished file on youtube. This is easy and
quick, once you’ve actually found the code they send to your I-phone during the
two-step identification when you sign in, and copied it correctly into the form
within a reasonable amount of time. But don’t worry, if you’re too slow,
they’ll send you another one.

Impressions from the Home Studio

The duration of the Listening Session is a challenge.
There’s no way I can do 75 minutes in one sitting; I’ll have to split it up
into segments. An attempt to combine different sound files in one project fails,
so I cannot reuse recordings I’ve already made. I have to play the piece or the
section every time I want it on the recording. I don’t have software that
allows me to splice, but that may be a good thing, considering that the
schedule is tight.

It’s not possible to adjust the volume while I’m recording,
either. The piano is slightly too loud, and my speaking voice is not quite loud
enough. After a couple of test runs I get an acceptable result, as long as I
remember to speak loud enough, slowly and clearly.

My script isn’t ready. I know what I want to talk about, but
I have to find the words, try them out, practice reading and playing before I
record each segment, followed by step 2-8 as described above.

A recording device is a merciless audience, but there is no
time for perfection. My focus improves when I imagine that I’m playing for a
live audience, actually communicating with people.

During the F-sharp major
prelude, my cats stage a fight over the sunniest place on the cat condo. At
least it’s in keeping with the character of the piece; I’ve chosen to combine
it with images of frolicking baby goats.

“I’ve forgotten to disconnect the phone” – the thought
shoots through my mind as I record the final segment on Thursday morning, March
19, the day before the scheduled event. There’s barely enough time to finalize
the movie before I start teaching; and this is a long teaching day - impossible
to do this over.

If the phone goes off I’ll leave it as it is. That’s real
life – like the electrical outlet where we plugged in the space heater during
the session in January at Ethical. First, it got nice and warm, then an acrid
smell wafted through the room, and smoke appeared in the beam of the projector.
We weren’t sure where it all came from, so we shut off everything. Nobody felt
like switching on the main lights, and the final performance of the Preludes
and Fugues in E-major and E-minor took place by the light of the little lamp on
the music stand of the piano. It was cozy, almost like candle light.

The phone remained silent while I was recording. Most of the
time, we worry in vain.

There are probably easier ways to do this, but I refuse to
invest in up-to-date equipment as long as what I have still functions. It just requires
a little time and patience. Considering all the events that have been
cancelled, I do have some extra time on my hands. Patience is not much of an
issue for someone who enjoys counted cross-stitch, lace-knitting, 500-page
novels, 1000-piece puzzles and piecing together Bach’s Preludes and Fugues…

I hope you enjoy this Listening Session; here are the links.
I recommend watching in full screen mode so you can follow the score, and turning
up the volume, so you can understand the talking.

The next session is scheduled for Friday, April 24 (4th
Friday of the month.) I hope we’ll be “live.” If not, I’ll record the session,
and put it on youtube – life events and technology cooperating.

For weeks, Youtube has been threatening to discontinue
supporting my browser. I’ve been told that an update is not possible,
considering the ancient operating system I’m using (Mac OSX). Ultimately, it’s
just another problem to be solved, and we’re getting plenty of practice doing
that at the moment. If you have any suggestions, though, please, don’t hesitate
to share.

PS: Coincidentally, this catalogue came in the mail today.
Not sure if it’s helpful, but the universe seems to be aware of my issues…